It’s not just Teslas that are . . . hot.
A Porsche electric car has also gone up in smoke. And – interestingly – without hitting anything. Or even moving.
The all-electric Taycan was parked at a residential address – ostensibly, to recharge its 800 volt battery pack- when it burst into flames, extensively damaging the building’s structure and exposing parts of the vehicle’s frame, according to news reports.
Calvin Kim, a Porsche spokesman, told the industry trade journal Automotive News that the automaker was made aware of the incident on Feb. 16.
“We are investigating, and we remain ready to assist if called upon,” Kim said. “We are relieved to hear that no one was harmed in this incident and that it’s too early to speculate on the cause until the investigation has concluded.”
The Taycan’s batteries operate at twice the voltage of most electric cars – for the sake of high-performance. High-voltage EV batteries have already demonstrated their fire-proneness in Tesla electric cars – which operate at around 400 volts. Many have assumed that the problem with auto-immolating Teslas had to do with shoddy design rather than the very high voltage.
Now we have twice the voltage . . . and another fire.
Naturally.
Maybe these EVs ought to come standard with Hershey bars, marshmallows and graham crackers .
…
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Just a couple of days ago, Saint Elon was mocking Bill Gates because Gates just bought a ….Taycan…and he (Gates) was mentioning something about range anxiety.
You gonna’ park that Taycan in the livery, Bill? Got a good sprinkler system installed?
Such incidents speak volumes regarding the US Sociopaths In Charge. Any such incident involving an ICV would have quickly brought the wrath of the state down on the manufacturer. The fact that its an “oh well” regarding EVs indicates just how badly the US Sociopaths In Charge want to force us into EVs. The total destruction of liberty, and the enhancement of their control is the primary concern of the US Sociopaths In Charge.
Well said. …………………
Looks like tesla has some serious competition in the market for exploding cars….
I’d be interested to see why the Porsche EV went up. AFAIK, Formula E hasn’t had any problems with battery fires at all, and they take some serious hits during the races. As for charging, I don’t know what FE does; I don’t know if they use fast charging or not. In any case, EV makers need to see what FE is doing, so as to improve their own safety.
Hi Mark,
The Taycan has an 800 volt battery; charging that “safely” at home is going to be either expensive, slow – or dangerous. Probably all three.
And all for what? The idiotic thing still can’t match the energy density of a gallon of gasoline, much less the ease of use/transportability of that gallon of fuel – or its cost.
EVs are like a man with a perfectly sound pair of legs cutting them off, then spending a fortune on prosthetics.
Eric,
Here’s an interesting article about “green” energy and EVs: https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/02/the_looming_collision_between_electric_vehicles_and_green_energy.html
My only point is that Porsche (and Tesla too) need to make changes, because their EVs have a nasty habit of self imolating…
Hi Mark,
I think Ken is speculating that it is the manufacturer, not the owner, allowing the car to charge too fast. I have no idea if this is correct, but I don’t think Ken was referring to the owner.
Cheers,
Jeremy
Correct Jeremy.
These ‘fast’ chargers are trying to compete with the IC vehicles 5 minute fill up. They know this is a McDonald’s society where we want it now! I doubt if most can afford the 3 phase high voltage fast charger at home.
Mark writes ” I don’t think Porsche or any other company would allow for that to be the case from a liability standpoint.”
In a real economy he would be right but in today’s insanity I see little interest coming from corpgov or the insurance fraudsters on this issue. A fact that Eric has rightly complained about endlessly.
Hi Ken,
My house has 200 volt service. I doubt very much it could deal with an 800 volt appliance (whatever the amperage) without either massive fire risk or massive (and expensive) modifications.
This whole thing is beyond stupid. It makes me want to go back to bed with a Japanese sex robot doll and never get out of the mummy bag.
The charger could step up the voltage. It could be done with a step-up transformer or with a voltage doubler in the charger.
You mean 200 amp? 240 volt (usually) off the transformer to your house panel.
An EV plugged into a 240v dryer outlet on a 40amp breaker can charge at about 25 miles recovered per hour. So 10 to 12 hours for a full charge.
800v charging is not going to happen at home, ever, unless one wants to go with three phase 480 power and a not cheap transformer.
What the electric companies want to install three-phase will literally SHOCK you! Two instances I know of, a buddy had 240 three-phase (the cheap way, stinger leg) to his building, he wanted to upgrade to 480 three-phase. ComEd wanted 30 thousand dollars.
My cousin put up a pole barn in his back yard and wanted 240 or 480 three-phase. His electric company told him 25 grand.
There’s no such animal as three phase residential service as far as I know. I am sure some houses can get it because they happen to be business/residential zoned, rural, and/or are in just the right spot, but I would not want to know what a power company would charge for a three phase service in the middle of a subdivision built within the last half century.
You can easily do 800V from a standard 220/240V residential service. Your current will be limited to less than 1/4 of the capacity because of the high voltage and transformer losses. The energy the service can get to the house remains the same, how one divides it between current and voltage is their own business…. unless the utility is using a smart meet to its full capability.
IMO they’re charging them too fast trying to eliminate the BIG drawback of EV’s. Trying to pack too much juice at once will damage a battery. The damage may not even show up for awhile making it difficult to diagnose. That’s just me and my experience with batteries on solar systems etc. I am not an engineer or expert. Just a logical assumption.
With all due respect I can’t see how “charging them too fast” could be the problem. I stand to be corrected but, how could the owner have control over the charging speed? Would this not be built into the system that it will only charge at a specific rate depending on the source? That is to say a 120v outlet will charge at X rate while 240 will charge at Y rate and the owner would not be able to screw it up.
Allowing it to charge too fast would be on the manufacturer and I don’t think Porsche or any other company would allow for that to be the case from a liability standpoint.